QOTD: Unnecessary Toughness?
Late last week we were treated (or suffered, depending on your point of view) with an appearance of a Chevy nameplate not seen on our roads since George W. was just taking office for the second time. The Blazer title holds special significance for this gearhead, as he spent his formative years bouncing around a blue-and-white 1978 model. The psychedelic herringbone seat pattern has been burned into my brain, perhaps explaining many of my incomprehensible behavior patterns.
So I took notice when The General hammered the Blazer name onto a crossover with front-drive roots. Today’s question is different from Friday’s in that we want to know what other refire of a historic name caused your eye to involuntarily twitch?
Yes, it would have been “better” had Chevy tacked a cap onto a four-door Colorado or perhaps even crafted some sort of Wrangler competitor. We all know why they chose not to do that: development costs, return on investment, and a relatively limited customer base. These financially sound reasons were surely beaten to death in infinite-length spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. It doesn’t make this Blazer-ite’s heart ache any less seeing the Blazer name on a crossover, no matter how much it looks like a Camaro.
What nameplate from the pages of history do you think was inappropriately applied to an undeserving machine? Dart? Monaco? Nova?
As for the Blazer, I’ll have to be content prying Tahoe badges off all the machines I can find equipped with the five-passenger Midnight Custom package.
[Images: General Motors]
Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.
More by Matthew Guy
Comments
Join the conversation
Considering that GM has long abandoned any pretense of having a design department and has decided to go all China on stealing other people's work for its looks (new Shamvette looks like five other automakers' work smashed together), I'd say the Blazer is no different - looks like a Korean ready for a street corner. This is so blatantly a ripoff. But it will sell. As for sullying a name in Chevrolet past, I don't care. None are worth spit to me unless they are attached to something built in the 1960s - and then I'd buy one.
This perfect name would have been the Chevy Sombrero hecho in Mexico.